Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

This excellent report of the Australian Agency for International Development reviews development effectiveness in 2009 and is incredibly important. I notice that today in the parliament at 10 am the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness was undertaking its consideration and deliberations and gaining feedback from senators and members of the House of Representatives. I thank Melissa Parkes and her group, the Parliamentary Friends for UNICEF, and also the Parliamentary Friends of the UN. I was there as a joint convenor of the Parliamentary Friends of the Millennium Development Goals. Julie Owens, my co-convenor, likewise was there with a number of other members of parliament. I acknowledge the contribution this morning of Sandy Hollway, who is leading that review of aid effectiveness, which was announced on 16 November last year by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Rudd. He supported the review, together with Professor Stephen Howes, former senator Margaret Reid AO, Bill Farmer AO and Chris Tinning, who is running the secretariat. It was a very useful feedback session on the importance of our aid program.

I did not have the opportunity to speak directly to Mr Hollway and his colleagues, but some of the points I wanted to make—and I know others made them around the table—were along the lines that aid effectiveness is absolutely critical. In terms of the four key points, the first is that education and awareness of the program and its effectiveness across the country to the members of the public—to the mums and the dads and the families out there—is critical to the success of our aid program. Frankly, at the moment I think there is a brand problem. People do consider that we are just doling out money. We are not. What we are into is certainly aid, but it is international development. It is the Australian Agency for International Development, so this inquiry is looking at aid effectiveness and aid and international development. There needs to be more of a focus on international development and the development process. Unless we can make that clear to members of the public, I am concerned that the level of confidence in our aid program will not be at the level that we would want it to be. It needs to be at a higher level. So we need confidence in our aid program and that can be built upon with a better education and awareness program.

Secondly, in my view it does not obtain adequate scrutiny by a parliamentary committee within this parliament. There needs to be a parliamentary committee having a careful focus and a look at it. Yes, there is the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and I acknowledge the wonderful work they do. They work very hard, but obviously across a very broad range of issues. A subcommittee of that committee does have some interest in the aid program, but clearly within the parliament there is not adequate consideration and scrutiny of that program.

Thirdly, I am very supportive of microfinance and the role of government interacting and partnering with business and the NGO sector. They can make a real difference by working and partnering with those wonderful hardworking non-government organisations—in many cases they have volunteers working with them and for them —and with the business community. Opportunity International, for example, do a wonderful job in promoting microbusiness and microfinancing around the world and around the Third World.

The fourth point is that the burden of chronic disease is now starting to impede the ability of the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. There is a clear focus on infectious disease at a global level, and that is absolutely right, with TB, malaria and AIDS and the like, but there needs to be far more focus and strength of effort and resources looking at chronic disease. I know there is a UN meeting coming up in September this year to look at exactly that point. I think that is very important, and I hope that the review process takes that into account. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.